cardigan, a. butler

eighty

eighty, regret

austin sat in his apartment as he looked through the many instagram stories of elsie's twenty-fifth birthday party.

his gut wrenching as he saw how happy elsie was without him.

she never needed him to be happy. she was perfectly happy on her own.

and he was just now realizing what he had lost.

he was watching elsie continue on with her life as if they hadn't met.

all of their pictures together were deleted off of elsie's instagram page and she had even deleted their youtube videos together.

there was no longer any sign that indicated that they were together.

she had completely erased him from her life and he was now a distant memory.

austin still had pictures of the two of them hidden in his phone because he couldn't find it in himself to delete them.

then their breakup would be real.

he didn't want to face the truth that elsie no longer wanted anything to do with him.

it hurt to know that she hated him.

there hasn't been any contact between them and it was the longest they had ever went without talking.

it didn't help that elsie had unfollowed austin on her social media accounts so she wouldn't have to watch him move on.

"what're you looking at?" kaia asked as she sat down beside her boyfriend.

"just some videos about elsie's birthday party." he shrugged before he turned his phone off and glanced over at kaia.

"you weren't invited?" she asked with confusion.

"no, elsie and i aren't on the best terms right now but we'll get past it." he reassured her.

"but you did tell her happy birthday right?"

"yeah, i did." he nodded causing kaia to smile.

"good, at least you're trying to make amends with her." kaia smiled before she leaned forward and connected her lips with austin's.

"i'm gonna take a shower, i'll be out in a bit." she told him before she got up and entered their bedroom.

austin watched as she left the living room before he got on his phone and clicked on the phone icon.

he scrolled down to elsie's contact and began to call her, nervously running his hand through his hair.

it seemed that she was going to answer until she picked up on the last ring.

"hello?" she answered.

"hey elsie." he greeted with a soft smile.

"austin... what's up?" she asked as she glanced over at hayden, who was playing with padfoot across the room.

"i was just calling to see how your birthday went."

"it was good." elsie replied simply. "honestly austin, what are you doing?"

"i'm not sure i know what you mean."

"commenting on my picture and calling me now? i thought i told you that it was best that we have no contact whatsoever so i could move on and heal?"

"i didn't think that you were being serious."

"i was being generous, austin. most girls in my position would expose the truth to the media so everyone would know what you did but i didn't. not even my close friends know that you cheated on me. that's how generous i've been.

but clearly you can't respect the fact that i need space from you. i think it's best that i just block your number after this call because you'll end up reaching out again and the next time, i won't be as kind as i am right now.

you broke something in me, austin. you made me believe that love was real. but the harsh reality is that it isn't. tell me, was it real?"

"what?"

"was our love real? was our relationship real? were your feelings for me real?"

"everything was real, elsie."

"i find that hard to believe when you cheated on me without feeling any type of remorse. you couldn't even tell me the truth when i had asked for it."

"i deserve to move on and i can't if you keep hanging onto me so please let me go. just let me go." she begged as tears fell from austin's eyes.

"but if i let you go, that means it's over."

"it's been over since the night you kissed her. please let me go." she begged once more.

"okay." he agreed.

"bye austin."

elsie hung up the phone and austin stared out of his window.

once the call had ended, elsie blocked his number and a sense of relief hit her.

she had officially cut ties with austin and she was now able to fully heal on her own.

as austin scrolled through the numerous pictures of the two of them together, all he could feel was regret.

he had lost the one thing that he loved and he wasn't sure that he'd ever get her back.

BELLA'S CORNER
yeah, that happened

idk how those elvis interviews will go 😳

should elsie expose his ass? 🫣

also, should elsie go on drew afualo's podcast and shit on men (austin and luke) 🤭

lowkey want elsie with timmy tbh 🙄